Page 18 of All My Witches
“No, you use diamonds,” Sam answered, taking everyone by surprise with his certainty. “Every time I’ve ever seen anyone build a freezing ray in books, movies or television, they’ve used diamonds. They used diamonds in the Batman comics and movies for Mr. Freeze. They used diamonds inBuffy the Vampire Slayer. That’s always the answer in everything I’ve everseen.”
“Diamonds, huh?” I racked my brain. “Okay, that’s a place to start. Where would someone in a soap world keepdiamonds?”
“How about in the lost city of Zeton?” Landonasked.
I knit my eyebrows. “Zeton? Where isZeton?”
Landon pointed across the way to where a large billboard sat next to an over-sized door, which was cut into the wall of what could only be described as a really lame mountain. Clove read the billboard outloud.
“Welcome to the lost city of Zeton. We make the future look like the past. Get away from it all and embrace a whole new set of problems. And, oh, we have diamondshere.”
“Well, that’s a subtle billboard,” Thistle said, making a face. “It’s as if she drew us amap.”
“Soaps are never subtle,” I pointed out. “She did draw us a map. She clearly wants us to go to Zetonnext.”
Landon let loose a dramatic sigh. “I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but why would a soap opera have a lost city under a mountain? That’s sciencefiction.”
“I keep telling you that what you believe about soap operas isn’t true,” I argued. “They’re much more complex than you’re giving them credit for. Now, I won’t pretend they always make sense or you don’t have to swallow your disbelief to get into them, but they’re more than just people kissing during musicmontages.
“Soaps sometimes handle big stories, like AIDS and rape,” I continued. “They do absurd things. You need to prepare yourself, because I have a feeling we’ll be dealing with a lot of crazyscenarios.”
“My life has been a crazy scenario since I met you,” Landongrumbled.
I knew he didn’t mean the comment as a jab, but I took it that way all the same. “I know I should probably apologize for this happening to us yet again, but … I’m not going to do it. I’m not sorry you’re stuck here with me. I would hate to do this onealone.”
Landon’s expression softened. “I’m not sorry I’m stuck here with you either. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He pulled me forward and gave me a quick hug, pressing a kiss to my forehead before releasing me. “We’ll get through this. We alwaysdo.”
I offered a wan smile. “We alwaysdo.”
“So, let’s get moving.” Landon extended his hand. “The lost city of Zeton awaits. Oh, and by the way, I know I’ve threatened it before but I’m totally going to kill Aunt Tillie when I get my hands onher.”
“I’m so going to help you,” Thistle growled. “That old lady won’t know what’s hit her when we get out of here. And, by the way, it’s going to be my fist hitting her. She’d better start runningnow.”
“HUH.”
The door to Zeton was large and ridiculous. It looked like the door to aLord of the Ringsset, which was rather fitting because we were walking into a mountain. Er, well, kindof.
“Look at the walls.” Marcus stood next to the archway and ran his fingers over what should’ve been rock. It wasn’t rock, though. It was something else entirely. “It’s … well … I think it’s papier mâché. In fact, I think the entire mountain is made of papiermâché.”
“Why would someone construct a mountain from papier mâché?” Landon challenged. “That seems like the worst material for construction likethis.”
“Soaps have limited budgets,” Thistle volunteered. “The sets are never expensive … or sometimes even believable. Practical sets, like hospitals and restaurants, look okay. Some of the others are lessrealistic.”
“But papier mâché?” Landon shook his head. “Whatever. Let’s find this diamond we’re meant to claim and get the heck out of here. This place is creepy … and weird.” He narrowed his eyes as a woman with long red hair streamed past. She wore a lavender jumpsuit – something straight out ofStar Trek– and the look she shot Marcus was nothing short ofsmoldering.
“Are younew?”
Marcus jolted at the question. “Um … we’re just checking out your setup to decide if we want to join thecause.”
“Just out of curiosity, what is the cause?” Iasked.
The woman turned a serene expression in my direction. “We’re interested in pledging ourselves to the light and turning away from thedarkness.”
“That’s a bit vague,” Thistle noted. “What do you think thatmeans?”
“It’s probably a cult,” I supplied. “Aunt Tillie doesn’t know anything about real cults, so it’s likely she cherry-picked whatever she saw on television and created some weird approximation of what she thinks a cult shouldbe.”
“That probably explains why there’s an entire roomful of people over there doing what looks to be synchronized yoga,” Clove said, pointing toward a large gymnasium. There had to be at least thirty people inside, all wearing matching jumpsuits – this time in blue. They were stretching and contorting their bodies as if driven by an unseenforce.
